One shot needle loom for producing pile fabric



1966 H. J. SMILEY ET AL 3,230,934

ONE SHOT NEEDLE LOOM FOR PRODUCING FILE FABRIC Filed Jan. 15, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS HARRY BATTY HARRY J. SMILEY BY 1966 H. J. SMILEY ET AL 3,230,984

ONE SHOT NEEDLE LOOM FOR PRODUCING PILE FABRIC Filed Jan. 15, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 3,0 1:11: 1:11; ::i/:: :-l 2 1,2 F

INVENTORS HARRY BATTY HARRY J. SMILEY Jan. 25, 1966 H. J. SMILEY ETAL 3,230,934

ONE SHOT NEEDLE LOOM FOR PRODUCING PILE FABRIC Filed Jan. 15, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG..8

INVENTORS HARRY BATTY HARRY J. SMILEY United States Patent 3,230,984 ONE SHOT NEEDLE LOOM FOR PRODUCING PILE FABRIC Harry J. Smiley, Glasgow, and Harry A. Batty, Lexington, Va., assignors to James Lees and Sons Company,

Bridgeport, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 15, 1963, Ser. No. 251,557 2 Claims. (Cl. 139-123) This invention relates to mechanism for inserting weft yarns in a pile fabric loom and more particularly to a mispick wire motion for a needle loom.

In the manufacture of pile fabrics such as soft floor coverings, the weft yarns are inserted into the warp shed either by a shuttle which oscillates back and forth through the shed on the lay or by means of a needle which carries a double weft into the shed. The number of wefts, or double wefts in the case of a needle loom, per one row of pile yarn determines the type of fabric such as one shot, two shot, and three shot, etc. Once the loom has been set up and timed for a two shot weave for example, it cannot be changed without replacing cams, camshafts, gears, etc., as well as other parts of the picking or needle motion. The present invention is directed to an attachment for a needle type Wilton, velvet, or Axminster loom whereby the loom can be quickly converted to one shot operation by means of eliminating every other needle insertion. The attachment may also be used to eliminate any desired number of weft shots in a cycle in accordance with the manner in which the loom is set up before installing the attachment.

A primary object of the invention, therefore, is to provide an attachment for a needle loom in which a predetermined number of picks or weft shots may be eliminated during a weaving cycle.

A further object of the invention is to provide in a needle loom an attachment for disconnecting the needle drive in accordance with a predetermined sequence.

A further object of the invention is to provide in a two shot needle type Wilton loom an attachment for converting the loom to one shot operation.

A still further object is to provide in a needle type loom a cam controlled latch for disconnecting the cable slide during predetermined portions of the cycle.

Further objects will be apparent from the specification and drawings in which FIG. 1 is a front view of the needle motion of a pile fabric loom,

FIG. 2 is a top view of a portion of the structure of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is an enlarged top view as seen at 33 of FIG. 1,

FIG. 4 is an enlarged detail as seen at 44 of FIG. 2 with the needle latch approaching the fully retracted position,

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 with the latch retainer in a retracted position and showing the latch connected to the needle,

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 but with the latch held in a retracted position by the latch retainer to disconnect the cable slide and the needle and thereby skip a weft shot,

FIG. 7 is a perspective showing the linkage for operating the latch retainer, and

FIG. 8 is an enlarged section as seen at 88 of FIG. 5.

In a needle insertion loom of the type involved in the present invention, the needle is carried in a guide which is known as the needle rail. The needle actuating mechanism ordinarily consists of an endless cable trained around a series of sheaves and a cable drum which is 3,230,984 Patented Jan. 25, 1966 "ice caused to rotate back and forth in opposite directions to insert and withdraw the needle from the shed of the fabric. The cab-1e carries a block or slide which also reciprocates in a guide or rail for the slide and may be connected to the needle so that movement of the cable and block carries the needle back and forth therewith. Where it is desired to provide a filling weft for every cycle of the cable drum, a rigid or permanent connection can be made between the slide and the needle. The present invention provides a controllable connection which is rendered inoperative by means of a predetermined pattern such as a cam.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, a needle motion pile fabric loom is provided with a loom frame 10 which supports the needle motion as well as the wire motion. The wire motion is controlled by means of a cable 11 passing over a sheave 12, but since this forms no part of the invention, further showing and description thereof are believed to be unnecessary. Also supported on the loom frame 10 is the needle motion drive assembly which consists of a shaft 13 journaled on a platform 14 and having a crank 15 keyed thereto; Crank 15 operates a rack '16 through the agency of a pitman arm '17. A cable drum 18 is journaled in bearings 19 on stand 20 and rotates in opposite directions with a predetermined number of turns due to the action of rack 16 and crank 15. The rack engages a pinion (not shown) on the drum shaft 21. A cable 22 is threaded around drum 18 and is also trained over a series of sheaves 23, 24, and 25, and an additional sheave near the fabric (not shown) so that a slide 30' (FIG. 8) is guided back and forth in slide rail 3-1. The slide 30 is rigidly connected to the cable 22. The cable and cable drum are driven from the main loom drive through a countershaft 32, miter gears 33 and 34 journaled in bearing 35 and 36 on platform 14 (FIG. 2).

The needle 40 operates back and forth in needle rail 41 and is provided with a block 42 secured to the outer end of the needle. When the needle block 42 engages slide 30, the needle reciprocates under control of the cable 22 to insert a double filling we-ft into the fabric shed. To provide a selective driving connection between the needle and the cable, we utilize a latch 43 (FIG. 4) pivoted to the slide 30 at 44. When the latch 43 is held in a horizontal or elevated position, as shown in FIG. 4, it engages a face 45 on the needle block 42. The needle is retracted through the agency of a lug 46 on the slide 30 but it will not be inserted unless the latch 43 is held in the horizontal position shown in FIG. 4. Control of the position of latch 43 is achieved by means of a latch retainer 50 pivoted at 51 and connected at its opposite end to a link 52.

The control of latch retainer 50 is accomplished by means of a cam 53 keyed to a shaft 54 journaled on frame 10 and having a lolbe 55 which actuates a cam follower 56 mounted on a bell crank 57. Rod 58 is secured to the opposite end of bell crank 57 which is spring loaded by means of helical extension spring 59. The opposite end of rod 58 is connected to a slotted arm 60 of a bell crank 61 pivoted to bracket 62. Adjustable connections between bell crank 61 and link 52 are provided as shown in FIG. 7 through link 64, lever 65 keyed to shaft 66 and lever 67 likewise keyed to shaft 65 which in turn controls the link 52. With the cam follower 56 on the lobe 55 of cam 53, the latch retainer 50 will be held in the lower position shown in FIG. 6. When thus held, the latch 43 is engaged by the tapered surface 70 and retained below the bottom edge of the block 42, so that when the slide 30 advances for its next pass, the latch 43 fails to engage block 42 and the needle remains in the retracted position in the rail 41 thereby missing a weft insertion. When the the latch retainer 50 will be held in the horizontal position shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. In this case the fiat upper surface 71 of the retainer acts as a pivoting guide or track forthe latch 43 and maintains it in the engaged position with the block 42. Latch retainer surface 71 when raised as seen in FIGS. 4 and 5 serves as an extension of the latch rail 72 which holds the latch in the engaged position during the stroke of the slide. Therefore, as the slide 30 advances to the right as shown in FIG. 5, the latch 43 carries the block and the needle along with it for the usual insertion of the filling weft.

, We provide a bumper or shock absorber assembly for the needle which consists of a plate 75 connected to a plunger 76 slidable in bosses 77, 77 secured to a-bracket 78. The plunger 76 is spring loaded by me'ans of a helical compression spring 79 which abuts a collar 80 on the plunger and one of the bosses 77 (FIG. 6). Suitable adjustable collars 81 are secured to the outboard end of the plunger 76 'to provide a limit stop for the shock absorber as shown in FIGURE 4.

While the present invention is primarily designed to produce a one-shot fabric, it will be understood that the cam 53 will be replaced with variously shaped or contoured cams so that the number of needle actuations per loom cycle can be controlled in accordance with the type of fabric it is desired to produce. Likewise the correlation of the needle motion will depend upon the ratio between miter gears 33 and 34.

The present invention provides an accessory for a needle motion loom permitting wide variation in the typeof fabrics which can be produced and with a minimum of downtime for the loom.

Having thus described our invention, We claim:

1. In a single needle pile fabric loom, the subcombination which comprises a slide fail, a slide reciprocable back and forth on said rail, a cable secured to said slide for oscillating the slide back and forth on the rail, a needle rail mounted adajcent to and in close spaced parallel relation to the slide rail, a needle block reciprocable back and forth on said needle rail; a single weft inserting needle mounted on said needle block, a latch pivoted on the slide and positioned to engage the needle block, a latch retainer pivotally mounted on the slide rail and having a bill forming a recess positioned to engage an extremity of the latch on each out-Ward traverse of the slide to thereby selectively prevent the latch from engaging and connecting the slide and the needle block, means including a cam actua'ted'in timed relation with the loom for pivoting the latch retainer, and adjustable connecting means between the cam and said retainer for selectively engaging the latch and maintaining it in a displaced pivoted position to thereby prevent a weft insertion dur-' ing a predetermined'actuation of the slide.

2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 having shock absorbing means for retaining and positioning the needle and needle block.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,492,723 5/1924' Collins 139l2 3 1,919,151 7/1933 St. Jean et a1. 139 123 2,103,826 12/1937 Robertson 139--l23 3,009,486 11/1961 Smiley 139-'-123 DONALD W. PARKER, Primary Examiner.

RUSSELL C. MADER, Examiner.

J. KEE' CHI, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN A SINGLE NEEDLE PILE FABRIC LOOM, THE SUBCOMBINATION WHICH COMPRISES A SLIDE RAIL, A SLIDE RECIPROCABLE BACK AND FORTH ON SAID RAIL, A CABLE SECURED TO SAID SLIDE FOR OSCILLATING THE SLIDE BACK AND FORTH ON THE RAIL, A NEEDLE RAIL MOUNTED ADJACENT TO AND IN CLOSE SPACED PARALLEL RELATION TO THE SLIDE RAIL, A NEEDLE BLOCK RECIPROCABLE BACK AND FORTH ON SAID NEEDLE RAIL, A SINGLE WEFT INSERTING NEEDLE MOUNTED ON SAID NEEDLE BLOCK, A LATCH PIVOTED ON THE SLIDE AND POSITIONED TO ENGAGE THE NEEDLE BLOCK, A LATCH RETAINER PIVOTALLY MOUNTED ON THE SLIDE RAIL AND HAVING A BILL FORMING A RECESS POSITIONED TO ENGAGE AN EXTREMITY OF THE LATCH ON EACH OUTWARD TRAVERSE OF THE SLIDE TO THEREBY SELECTIVELY PREVENT THE LATCH FROM ENGAGING AND CONNECTING THE SLIDE AND THE NEEDLE BLOCK, MEANS INCLUDING A CAM ACTUATED IN TIMED RELATION WITH THE LOOM FOR PIVOTING THE LATCH RETAINER, AND ADJUSTABLE CONNECTING MEANS BETWEEN THE CAM AND SAID RETAINER FOR SELECTIVELY ENGAGING THE LATCH AND MAINTAINING IT IN A DISPLACED PIVOTED PORTION TO THEREBY PREVENT A WEFT INSERTION DURING A PREDETERMINED ACTUATING OF THE SLIDE. 